Sperm

//spɜɹm// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The reproductive cell or gamete of the male; a spermatozoon. countable

    "In the Fall into the division of labor, Levi-Strauss sees the great hunters trading women to create the exogamous bonds of one hunting band with another. The egg is, but the sperm does. The tiny sperm may be furious in its activity, but its highway to the egg is paved by the alkaline trail set down by the Great Mother."

  2. 2
    the male reproductive cell; the male gamete wordnet
  3. 3
    Semen; the generative substance of male animals. slang, uncountable

    "Other Nations there are, that never have use of fire; Others, whose sperme is of a blacke colour."

  4. 4
    Sperm oil; whale oil from a sperm whale; spermaceti. countable, uncountable

    "Holding his candle so that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal, he made assurance of Lucy’s coffin."

Verb
  1. 1
    To ejaculate. intransitive, slang, vulgar
  2. 2
    To ejaculate on or into. slang, transitive, vulgar

Synonyms

All synonyms
sperm cellspermatozoonspermatozoonact of loveadulteryandrocyte

Antonyms

All antonyms
egg

Example

More examples

"The sperm whale can dive to a depth of 1,000 meters."

Etymology

From Middle English sperme, from Latin sperma, from Ancient Greek σπέρμα (spérma, “seed, semen”). Compare also Old French esperme, sparme.

Related phrases

sperm ampullasperm banksperm blossomsperm cellsperm countsperm donorsperm morulasperm sacsperm sacksperm whalesperm-blossombaby seed

More for "sperm"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.